French Filmmakers Use Remote Control Cars to Create Paul Walker Tribute

Ralphie Aversa

Trending NowApril 25, 2014

Fans of the "The Fast and the Furious" franchise are enjoying a new tribute to the late Paul Walker that uses remote control (RC) cars and a scaled-down set.

French filmmaker Alexandre Synger and his team at Vax Studios created "Fast & Furious RC : The Greatest Car Chase RC FF 7." It was published to YouTube on March 30, and is now gaining popularity thanks to Reddit.

The 4-minute-31-second video starts with two RC cars, a 1969 Chevy Camaro RS and a 2012 Nissan GT-R, pulling up to a starting line with traffic lights. Each car has a California license plate with the last name of either Vin Diesel's or Walker's character from the movie.

As soon as the light turns green, the cars take off. Diesel's Camaro even pops a wheelie just like in the films. The race takes them up ramps, under overpasses, and through a farmer's market. There are two police cars that enter and of course eventually crash at various points. Filmmakers also include an appearance of the car driven by Sean Boswell (actor Lucas Black).

All of the vehicles used were from RC car company Vaterra. The cars, which feature advanced steering mechanisms, are capable of traveling up to 50 mph.

A behind-the-scenes video uploaded by Vax Studios shows the storyboard along with the set's creation. After all of the items were gathered and plotted out, the team of Frenchmen spent three days filming the piece with a Canon EOS 700D and a GoPro HD Hero 3. A combination of the set's scale and creative camera angles give the video a cinematic, true-to-size look. The filmmakers created sound effects with GarageBand, and they used Final Cut Pro to finish the project.

The video is a hit online, with 466,000 views. Fans of the movie franchise are not the only ones chiming in with compliments. Remote control car enthusiasts are also showering the video with positive feedback.

"As someone that is in the RC scene and does RC videos you did a awesome job on this and well worth it," Dale McAmmond wrote. "It deserves way more views. Subscribed!"

Another commenter, RatteGonzalez, may have summed up the tribute best: "Very very Good film! Paul walker would be proud of you."